WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en 00:00:04.534 --> 00:00:08.960 Most of the money in politics in  America is spent on advertising.  00:00:08.960 --> 00:00:12.400 A lot of what you see is designed  to provoke a reaction out of you.  00:00:12.400 --> 00:00:18.560 Whether it's Coke or Pepsi or  the president all of those things  00:00:18.560 --> 00:00:22.222 can be sold to consumers or voters. 00:00:22.222 --> 00:00:24.044 I'm Ciara Torres-Spelliscy. 00:00:24.044 --> 00:00:28.072 I'm a professor at Stetson Law and a Fellow at the Brennan Center. 00:00:28.072 --> 00:00:33.386 My name is Leslie Miley. I'm the former Chief Technical Officer of the Obama Foundation. 00:00:33.386 --> 00:00:37.724 I've also held engineering leadership roles at Twitter, Slack, and Google. 00:00:39.189 --> 00:00:45.290 Branding is a very well-known  tactic in marketing to define a narrative 00:00:45.290 --> 00:00:48.265 and the narrative may not necessarily be true. 00:00:48.265 --> 00:00:51.000 Political branding is trying to sell you a candidate, 00:00:51.565 --> 00:00:59.600 a political party, or sometimes just a concept  that will be used in public policy. It creates   00:00:59.600 --> 00:01:05.280 what can be a false image of who the person is  and what they stand for. The public is much more   00:01:05.280 --> 00:01:14.400 likely to believe a piece of branding if it comes  through a network of trust. It's easy to believe   00:01:14.400 --> 00:01:20.400 things that are coming from what you consider  a trusted source. And if someone is trying to   00:01:20.400 --> 00:01:25.840 manipulate you, like a politician trying to get  your vote, then they will use that network of trust.   00:01:27.600 --> 00:01:34.640 We now have micro targeting that is done  through digital platforms. You have ads   00:01:34.640 --> 00:01:41.760 that show up on different social media platforms --  those can be targeted to specific users.   00:01:41.760 --> 00:01:49.040 They will use that to get you messages that are  tailored to try to sway the way that you behave   00:01:49.040 --> 00:01:54.480 in the next election. Micro targeting is like  your best friend who knows everything about   00:01:54.480 --> 00:01:59.200 you -- they know what you want for your birthday,  they know what you like to eat. The difference   00:01:59.200 --> 00:02:03.760 between micro targeting and your best friend is  that your best friend is generally looking out   00:02:03.760 --> 00:02:12.960 for what's best for you. They can literally target  a message to a particular voter in the hopes of   00:02:12.960 --> 00:02:18.880 swaying their vote. You might have a different  message for people who are registered Democrats   00:02:18.880 --> 00:02:24.320 than registered Republicans than registered  Independents or people who are not registered with   00:02:24.320 --> 00:02:34.080 any party. Micro targeting is i want an 18-to-21 demographic of this income, of this ethnicity,   00:02:35.040 --> 00:02:41.600 in these zip codes. You might not even see the  same ad over the course of an election cycle.   00:02:41.600 --> 00:02:48.400 So you're probably being hit with like a number of  targeted ads, all of them slightly different. It is   00:02:48.400 --> 00:02:54.720 highly targeted. It is in some cases down to the  block, and that should be something that concerns   00:02:54.720 --> 00:03:02.560 all of us because it can amplify people's opinions  and their misinformation in ways that we've never   00:03:02.560 --> 00:03:10.080 seen before. It increases the temptation for the  politician to lie to the public. They will just lie   00:03:10.080 --> 00:03:18.320 in a different way to different voters. For example  a classic type of disinformation that you could   00:03:18.320 --> 00:03:25.600 microtarget is the message that the election has  been moved to Wednesday. And the reason why that's   00:03:25.600 --> 00:03:32.880 so pernicious is we always vote on Tuesday. And by  voter suppression I don't mean people standing in   00:03:32.880 --> 00:03:39.360 front of the polls. I mean misinformation being  targeted towards communities of color that the   00:03:39.360 --> 00:03:46.480 polls are closed, or that you need a certain amount  of ID, or that the date has changed. This type   00:03:46.480 --> 00:03:52.400 of advertising, this type of microtargeting  to communities -- particularly communities who   00:03:52.400 --> 00:04:00.240 may be on the margin -- is highly problematic. I  would especially warn young voters that if they   00:04:00.240 --> 00:04:09.440 see a political ad which encourages them to either  skip the election or to not vote at all, to take   00:04:09.440 --> 00:04:15.760 those particular messages and, you know,  throw them in the garbage bin of history.   00:04:16.880 --> 00:04:24.880 It's complex. It's complicated. It's confusing. Yet we can only make informed choices.   00:04:24.880 --> 00:04:31.280 Navigating political ads online can seem  complicated but here are some tips:   00:04:31.280 --> 00:04:37.440 Number one: Be aware that you are being targeted as a voter.  You should know that they have an incentive to   00:04:38.080 --> 00:04:43.600 not be as truthful as possible. Some of these ads  will look like content shared from your friend.   00:04:43.600 --> 00:04:50.800 Pay attention, be aware, read the fine print... Number  two: Be aware of misinformation and disinformation online.  00:04:50.800 --> 00:04:59.040 Misinformation can be pernicious it can  be hidden. It can be right in front of you as   00:04:59.040 --> 00:05:06.480 something that you may be interested in. You should  be very cautious if you see things like elections   00:05:06.480 --> 00:05:14.720 being moved, polling places being moved, if it is in  a paid political advertisement. Number three: Fact   00:05:14.720 --> 00:05:22.080 check any political ad before you believe what  it says. Ads that are microtargeted to voters   00:05:22.080 --> 00:05:30.960 have a high probability of containing either  misinformation or lies. Take a moment to check your   00:05:30.960 --> 00:05:38.160 sources and see if this is something that is true.  And number four: Be thoughtful, be informed, and be   00:05:38.160 --> 00:05:44.800 aware before you vote. Think critically but don't  become cynical. Get your information from a variety   00:05:44.800 --> 00:05:50.800 of sources, and ask questions, and follow the trail  of where the information comes from. My best advice   00:05:51.360 --> 00:05:58.720 for young voters is to vote! Definitely vote. The  election is the way that we distribute political   00:05:58.720 --> 00:06:07.360 power in the United States. Your vote is your  voice. Don't get caught up in the emotional side   00:06:07.360 --> 00:06:19.840 of what's being put in front of you. Get caught up  in the change you want to see, and run with that.